Vendor Spotlight: Tugboat Bread

A Little Bakery with a Big Reputation

There’s a reason that Tugboat Bread has a loyal following and ever-increasing popularity.  It’s the perfect balance between taste and texture mastered by owner/baker Chris Warden.  His many years with hand kneading the art and science of baking helps too.

Chris began his journey as a young child making muffins and cookies with his mom. In high school, he and his dad got into making fresh homemade bread, a passion that continued into college and then into a series of jobs at small bakeries. When he landed at Los Angeles’s esteemed Bub and Grandma’s Bread, Chris deepened his expertise with sourdoughs.

Though he operates his micro-bakery only part-time (for now), Chris brings nearly 60 homemade loaves to our King Farmers Market every Sunday. Whatever your bread needs are, you’re sure to find just the right fit from the regular lineup: seedy loaf with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and purple corn, buttery oat flax porridge loaf, flint corn polenta porridge loaf, and 100% whole grain loaf.

These gluten-filled gems fly quickly out of his booth for good reason: they keep well, they’re flavorful, and they’re local. The purchase of a Tugboat loaf not only supports Chris’s cottage-food bakery, it supports local famers and millers.  All Tugboat Bread loaves are made with ingredients from Northwest growers: stone-milled flours from Camas Country Mill; whole grains from Ayer’s Creek Farm and from Lonesome Whistle (another PFM vendor!).

If you’re not sure where to start, you can’t go wrong with the whole grain loaf for sandwiches. Serving a cheese and charcuterie board? Chris says “The toasted seeds and the purple corn on the seedy loaf make for a super savory, almost umami-like flavor that pairs well with cheese and cured meats.” For your morning toast, Chris recommends the oat flax loaf since its nutty taste and creamy texture are just right with butter, jam and eggs.  Chris shared and recommends his, guilty pleasure – grilled slices of his flint corn loaf as a dinner side dish since it caramelizes well while keeping a moist and custardy interior.

Come say hello to Chris and get some Tugboat Bread at our King Market, Sundays from 10-2 (for maximum variety, come on the earlier side since it’s is in high-demand!).